For those who prefer losing weight from the comfort of their living room couch while watching TV and eating a bag of potato chips with a large diet soda, the FDA has a new drug for you!
Vivus Inc. manufactures the FDA approved anti-obesity drug Qsymia. Doctors prescribe it for overweight and obese people who have at least one other health problem related to weight. Examples include hypertension, high cholesterol, or Type 2 diabetes.
The market for this highly anticipated new drug is huge, with more than 1/3 of US adults now obese.
Obesity projections are no doubt great news for Vivus Inc’s shareholders. Overweight and obese people will likely total 80% of the adult population by 2020 with more than 1 in 5 children obese in just a few short years.
Qsymia Nothing More than Repackaged Fen-Phen
The new anti-obesity drug Qsymia was created using two older drugs: topiramate and phentermine. If phentermine sounds vaguely familiar, let me jog your memory.
Fen-phen, the popular weight loss drug tied to heart valve damage and yanked from the market in 1997 was, you guessed it, one-half phentermine!
In a nutshell, this new anti-obesity drug Qsymia is fen-phen repackaged as … top-phen.
Thousands of lawsuits resulted from the damage caused by fen-phen with billions in settlements paid out to victims and their families.
That’s the standard business model in the pharmaceutical industry. Simply repackage a drug removed from the market by changing it up a bit, get it approved, and make a fortune fast. When it is yanked off the market for harming people (again), just settle the lawsuits. Just a normal cost of doing business, right?
In the end, Vivus will likely make much much more than will ever be paid out in future lawsuits from Qsymia, so it is a sound business decision for shareholders to get it out there and get the revenue flowing quickly.
This strategy is, of course, unethical, but it is perfectly legal and a proven way to generate huge profits for the drug industry in a short period of time.
Qsymia Side Effects
Acknowledged side effects of Qsymia include tingling in the hands and feet, constipation, dry mouth, dizziness, and insomnia.
Wait a minute – insomnia? Isn’t lack of sleep a recognized and very big cause for overweight problems in the first place?
What Obesity Medicine Specialists in their right minds would prescribe this for a patient?
It is important to note that the FDA initially rejected Qsymia, then known as Qnexa, in 2010 because of side effects including elevated heart rate, psychiatric problems, and birth defects. No worries, Vivus submitted additional “safety data”, with the drug application quickly approved.
Qsymia Doesn’t Help You Lose That Much Weight
Here’s the kicker. A patient prescribed Qsymia will take on all this unknown health risk from taking a drug that was previously removed from the market over 10 years ago. Worse, he/she probably won’t lose that much weight either. Hint: If you would like to know how long it takes to lose weight, this article tells you exactly with no gimmicks!
Documentation submitted to the FDA indicated that nearly 70% of patients taking Qsymia for an entire year lost only 5% of their body weight. This compares with 20% of patients taking a placebo losing the same amount!
This means that a 250 lb person would only lose 12.5 lbs after taking Qsymia for a full year.
This insignificant weight loss certainly wouldn’t reduce the long term health risk of anything weight related!
Eating Grassfed Meat Achieves Nearly the Same Results
An overweight or obese person would be much better off simply switching to grass-fed meat (here’s where to get it). A typical 6-ounce grass-fed steak has approximately 100 fewer calories than a conventional 6 oz steak from grain-fed cattle.
What’s more, since it is considerably more nutrient-dense, it fills you up better and you stay full longer. Since the average American consumes 66.5 lbs of beef per year, this simple change can have a profound effect! Such an easy tweak would translate to a 6-pound loss per year with all else remaining the same!
Eat grass-fed beef or take a new anti-obesity drug with many side effects that will no doubt be prescribed for children as well?
That’s an easy choice.
References
(1) Obesity Pill Qsymia Gains FDA Approval
(2) Young Americans Need to Cut Caloric Intake
(3) Eat Wild
Dang auto correct….. Not Amy its supposed to be smh
Amy
Gosh, Liz.
Will people never learn?!?
Unbiased? Hardly.
Why do you think a doctor would “push” it on you? I always educate my patients on diet changes to lose weight and be healthy and I would never promote a weight loss medication because I don’t think they work, let alone the dangers. I don’t understand why you have such a hatred of medical professionals. Have you had such a traumatizing experience that you have lost all faith whatsoever in a group of professionals who 99% of the time are simply trying to help you with a problem that YOU came to them with. Don’t like medical advice? Don’t go to a medical provider. I used to like your site, but I’m sick of my profession as a whole being bashed by someone who should just stick to talking about good food and it’s benefits. It’s much more pleasant that way.
that’s all we need, another pill and all it’s side effects!
Wow….for the Almighty Dollar they will do anything………..any news about the Food retraining camps!
obesity causing gmo NOT approved. obesity drug approved. makes me wanna holla.
Hah! What doctor? Since having gone paleo in 2009 I haven’t seen a doctor.